Florida man arrested after girlfriend dies during alleged suicide pact
FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. - A Florida man is in jail after deputies said he made a pact in June with his girlfriend to commit suicide. CBS affiliate WKMG reports that she died, but he survived.
Katherine Goddard's daughter found the couple on June 30 in a vehicle in the garage of their Palm Coast home with a dryer vent fixed to the exhaust of the car, Flagler County deputies said. Bruce Haughton, 52, had a pulse and was breathing, but Goddard was unresponsive when paramedics arrived.
Detectives reportedly later learned that the couple made a suicide pact after cutting off their use of pain medication. A June 29 attempt failed when the car battery died, according to a news release.
Deputies arrested Haughton on a misdemeanor of assisted suicide. He is currently held in the Flagler County Detention Facility without bond.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports that Goddard's daughter found the couple when she got home from work, and called 911.
"I just got home and I just found my mom and my step-dad in the garage, in the car," she said, "and I don't know if the car's been on or what but ... he's barely breathing and I can't get a pulse off of her."
On the call, she reportedly read a note she found: "Due to the pain we are both in and can't get help, this is the only way we can see getting out of it. Goodbye to everybody," she read.
